Monday, July 25, 2011

The Jerome Holtzman effect is a fictional non-scientific phenomenon in the baseball universe!

Nevertheless, not all saves are created equal. In an attempt to distinguish quality from quantity, a sliding points scale was used for rating closers: 5-3-1 for one-, two- and three-run saves.

...Of course, calling any save “easy” is like calling any doughnut low in calories; it just isn’t. Yet saves’ varying degrees of difficulty correspondingly differ in how they impact the closer and his team.

A save is awarded, obviously, when closing out a game in which your team leads by no more than three runs. The specialized use of closers today—that one, all-important, ninth inning—could mean dealing with the potential tying run no closer than having him in the hole.

...Closers feed on pressure. Their ineffectiveness pitching in non-save situations is a curious phenomenon. For some, is there an equivalent leniency when protecting a three-run lead? If so, do some managers actually feel more secure when waving for their closers in a one-run game?

Colorado’s Jim Tracy doesn’t buy it, despite the tendency of some relievers to be unable to escape jams of their own making.

“I’m still much more comfortable bringing a closer into a three-run game. There’s more room for error,” Tracy said. “Otherwise, you’re one dislocated pitch from being tied. A three-run lead gives them a chance to make a boo-boo. It’s good when you’re allowed to make a mistake.”

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Closers feed on pressure. Their ineffectiveness pitching in non-save situations is a curious phenomenon.

It seems there is a notion that closers have a unique psychology in which they thrive with the game kind-of on the line, but not when it is really on the line, i.e. tie game on the road in the 9th or later....

So, according to some muddled thinkig, the supposed closer mentality is an asset w/ precisely a 1-3 run lead, but a liability with a bigger lead, a deficit, or in a tie game.

Would a closer rather get a save than a win? (How about a non-closer?) To the closer who doesn't like to pitch in tie games on the road because it's not a save situation, I would say, it's a *win* situation.

I read "Singer Brian Wilson" in the headline and now I've got "Caroline, No" stuck in my head.

I for one just don't get Pet Sounds. Yes, I know Paul McCartney thinks it's the greatest album of all time. Sloop John B is a great song. Wouldn't it be Nice is a nice, catchy pop tune. God Only Knows makes a good theme song for a show about polygamy. The rest of the album just doesn't work for me. Must be a character flaw or something. Every few years I try to give it a listen to see if I have acquired any taste, but sadly, no.

Save is their money stat. Would you say you are more or less focused on a task when you are sure it will be prominently featured in your performance appraisal?

Do you think closers aren't motivated or focused on those somewhat rare occasions when they are brought into tie games in extras on the road? I don't, I was kind of poking fun at the weird perceptions of closers' psychologies that exist.

I didn't really get Pet Sounds until I realized how radical and strange the sound is. On first listen it's just sweet pop. "I Know There's an Answer" is my favorite example, right in the middle it breaks down into a saxophone/banjo duet. A strange pitter-patter running throughout "Sloop John B," another weird pitter-patter that sounds either like raindrops or horseshoes in "God Only Knows," the accordions in "Wouldn't it Be Nice." The whole album is chock full of this stuff, layered on top of some of the best pop ever written.

I think a good listen to "Good Vibrations" - which is REALLY weird - set me in the right direction as far as listening for these details.

I hate to play the "you had to be there" card, but...ya kinda had to be there. At the time (early 1966), the sound WAS quite radical

Oh, I get that part. I understand the groundbreaking, the influence, all that. But as entertainment, it just doesn't do it for me. All the funny backround sounds on Caroline, No...cool, innovative, all that. But it's an annoying song. Much of the album is like that for me.

I'm among those that doesn't grok the Beach Boys either. I too understand their importance, but it's an importance I have to talk myself into appreciating. I suppose there is no accounting for taste. I have been surfing YouTube this past year and bookmarking interesting 1960s pop – listening a lot to a whole range of things, The Kinks and Herman's Hermits and the Turtles, folksier groups like The Seekers, for that matter. The Honeycombs, "Have I the Right," that to me is quite a song. I never look for Beach Boys' songs, couldn't be bothered. They lack some kind of energy that I like from pop and rock songs.

suppose there is no accounting for taste. I have been surfing YouTube this past year and bookmarking interesting 1960s pop – listening a lot to a whole range of things, The Kinks and Herman's Hermits and the Turtles, folksier groups like The Seekers, for that matter.

Oh, I get that part. I understand the groundbreaking, the influence, all that. But as entertainment, it just doesn't do it for me. All the funny backround sounds on Caroline, No...cool, innovative, all that. But it's an annoying song. Much of the album is like that for me.

Agreed. I love me some Beach Boys, but attempting to create a Beach Boys concept album was like attempting to eat soup with a fork. The Beach Boys were a peerless three-minute singles band, perfectly made for AM car radio.

Beach Boys's singles such as Help Me Rhonda, I Get Around, Surfin' USA, and the superb Don't Worry Baby are as good as pop music ear candy gets. Attempting to push the sound and the ideas in a different direction than that wasn't among (that) Brian Wilson's best inspirations.

Terrific song, a whole lot of fun. I remember some critic one time describing it as "Neil Sedaka on acid." Just love the thump-thump-thumping sound driving the rhythm on the chorus: legend has it they got that effect by recording a bunch of people marching in place on an echoey enclosed fire-exit staircase.

Terrific song, a whole lot of fun. I remember some critic one time describing it as "Neil Sedaka on acid." Just love the thump-thump-thumping sound driving the rhythm on the chorus: legend has it they got that effect by recording a bunch of people marching in place on an echoey enclosed fire-exit staircase.

Joe Meek was as inventive a producer as there was back in that time period. The Tornadoes' "Telstar" was another production of his that's still pretty stunning. Unfortunately, he was mentally unstable, and eventually killed himself and his landlady inn a murder/suicide. But many of his records still sound unique...

Attempting to push the sound and the ideas in a different direction than that wasn't among (that) Brian Wilson's best inspirations.

I really disagree. In an album that is so filled with sound, there are so many stunning moments of silence on the album, so many great noises layered on top of all the beautiful music. Like a lot of really great albums, you have to find a way into it. There's nothing wrong with you if you don't like it, but there's a lot there to love.

There are certain songs which just ooze the 60's. Something about the sounds. Jimmy Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower", Janis Joplin "Piece of my Heart", Cream "Sunshine of your Love"... "Bluebird", while not as well know as the other 3, has that same effect for me. I can almost taste the psychedelia.

I didn't really get Pet Sounds until I realized how radical and strange the sound is. On first listen it's just sweet pop. "I Know There's an Answer" is my favorite example, right in the middle it breaks down into a saxophone/banjo duet. A strange pitter-patter running throughout "Sloop John B," another weird pitter-patter that sounds either like raindrops or horseshoes in "God Only Knows," the accordions in "Wouldn't it Be Nice." The whole album is chock full of this stuff, layered on top of some of the best pop ever written.

I think a good listen to "Good Vibrations" - which is REALLY weird - set me in the right direction as far as listening for these details.

What "Good Vibrations" has going for it is that it rocks some along with everything else, and Pet Sounds really doesn't. Most of Pet Sounds is chamber pop, which certain people really eat up - the idea of the auteur. Critic types are disproportionatly represented among fans of Pet Sounds, as distinguished from rock music fans who don't happen to be critics.

There are a thousand different bands that can be someone's favorite band, where the same person would like Revolver as well. Pet Sounds is going to appeal to a much smaller group - it's just more of an extreme.

As for myself, other than the most popular songs from Pet Sounds, I'd sooner listen to the early Beach Boys or the post-Vibrations interesting tracks.

Less than 30% of the realy tough jobs were handed to the closers in 1997. And that number sure hasn't gone up.
At that, there are big differences by team. Urbina had 11 tough save attempts, Todd Worrell had none. (Nobody uses their closer as Urbina was used in 1997 any long)

There were 23 pitchers with 25+ save attempts. They combined for 61 tough saves. 3 pitchers (Urbina, Hoffman and Hernendez) had 20 between them.

I remember getting the double album soundtrack for The Who's "The Kids are Alright" in 1979 and being shocked in the two page essay that Brian Wilson was one of these great songwriters that Pete Townshend was compared to. I had always figured the Beach Boys did some catchy surf songs but legendary great composer? Nah, in the 1960s all I heard was the top 40 singles. "Pet sounds" has its enjoyable aspects but I don't go crazy about it or the various forms that "Smile" has come with over the years.

“I’m still much more comfortable bringing a closer into a three-run game. There’s more room for error,” Tracy said. “Otherwise, you’re one dislocated pitch from being tied. A three-run lead gives them a chance to make a boo-boo. It’s good when you’re allowed to make a mistake.”